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Agriculture

From butter churns to diesel tractors, the Museum's agricultural artifacts trace the story of Americans who work the land. Agricultural tools and machinery in the collections range from a John Deere plow of the 1830s to 20th-century cultivators and harvesters. The Museum's holdings also include overalls, aprons, and sunbonnets; farm photographs; milk cans and food jars; handmade horse collars; and some 200 oral histories of farm men and women in the South. Prints in the collections show hundreds of scenes of rural life. The politics of agriculture are part of the story, too, told in materials related to farm workers' unions and a group of artifacts donated by the family of the labor leader Cesar Chavez.

Labels are an important marketing device. They often go beyond merely identifying contents and are designed to help establish brand distinction and generate customer loyalty for a largely interchangeable product.

This Tumwater brand apple crate label was used by the Cashmere Fruit Exchange in Cashmere, Washington during the beginning of the 20th century. The lithographed label was produced by Stecher-Traung of San Francisco, California. Tumwater Canyon is pictured on the label, and its large stream that runs into Lake Wenatchee is surrounded by a forest, flowing down from the mountains. Fruit crate labels often depicted landscapes like this to evoke the idea of rich, natural produce.

Labels are an important marketing device. They often go beyond merely identifying contents and are designed to help establish brand distinction and generate customer loyalty for a largely interchangeable product.

This See! See! Brand apple crate label was used by Washington Sales, Inc., of Wenatchee, Washington during the early 20th century. The lithographed label was produced by the Schmidt L. Company of Seattle, Washington. The label features an illustration of a boy with oversized head holding an oversized apple on a beach. This label promoted the health benefits of eating apples, showing that eating apples led to healthy, ruddy children.

Labels are an important marketing device. They often go beyond merely identifying contents and are designed to help establish brand distinction and generate customer loyalty for a largely interchangeable product.

This Happy Landing brand orange crate label was used by the Golden West Citrus Association of Tustin, California during the 1930s. The lithographed label was produced by the Western Lithography Company of Los Angeles, California. The blue label has a diagonal color illustration of a yellow propeller plane landing on a dirt runway at a small airport. The image was copyrighted in 1934 by the G.C. Association.

Labels are an important marketing device. They often go beyond merely identifying contents and are designed to help establish brand distinction and generate customer loyalty for a largely interchangeable product.

This Cas-Co brand apple crate label was used by the Associated Fruit Company on Cashmere, Washington during the early 20th century. The red lithographed label has a central illustration of a barrel with “CAS-CO” written in the center. The label calls Cashmere “The Heart of the famous Wenatchee Valley,” which was one of the most productive apple-producing regions of the United States.

Labels are an important marketing device. They often go beyond merely identifying contents and are designed to help establish brand distinction and generate customer loyalty for a largely interchangeable product.

This Blue W brand apple crate label was in use by the Dow Fruit Company of Wenatchee, Washington during the early 20th century. The lithographed label was produced by the Traung Label Company of Seattle, Washington. The orange label has a large blue “W” in the center, with a small red apple on the branch to the lower left. The Wenatchee Valley in the Columbia River basin was one of the largest apple producing regions in the United States, claiming to be the “Apple Capital of the World.”

Labels are an important marketing device. They often go beyond merely identifying contents and are designed to help establish brand distinction and generate customer loyalty for a largely interchangeable product.

This Kile brand apple crate label was in use by the W.B. Kile Company of Yakima, Washington during the early 20th century. The lithographed label has a blue background with an illustration of two red apples on a branch, with the brand KILE above it in large letters. Yakima was part of the Wenatchee Valley apple producing region, which claimed to be the “Apple Capital of the World.”

Labels are an important marketing device. They often go beyond merely identifying contents and are designed to help establish brand distinction and generate customer loyalty for a largely interchangeable product.

This Family Choice brand fruit crate label was distributed by the Fleming Companies Inc., of Topeka, Kansas in the early 20th Century. The red lithographed label features an illustration of a family popping up from a blue house. Founded in 1915, the Fleming Companies Inc. is now one of the largest food wholesalers in the United States.

Labels are an important marketing device. They often go beyond merely identifying contents and are designed to help establish brand distinction and generate customer loyalty for a largely interchangeable product.

This Up-River brand apple crate label was used by the Oneonta Trading Corporation of Wenatchee-Yakima, Washington during the early 20th century. The label was lithographed by the Ridgway Lithograph Company of Seattle, Washington. The label has an image of three red apples hanging on a branch. The Oneonta Trading Corporation derives its name from the Native American words for “mountain” or “where the rocks crop out.”

Labels are an important marketing device. They often go beyond merely identifying contents and are designed to help establish brand distinction and generate customer loyalty for a largely interchangeable product.

This HI-YU brand apple crate label was used by the Northern Fruit Company Inc., of Wenatchee, Washington during the early 20th century. The label was lithographed by Crocker-Union of Seattle, Washington. The label has a large illustration of a Native American man wearing a colorful feathered headdress. Native American imagery was a popular motif in fruit crate labeling during the early 20th century, linking the commercializing fruit industry with a more agrarian time gone by.

Labels are an important marketing device. They often go beyond merely identifying contents and are designed to help establish brand distinction and generate customer loyalty for a largely interchangeable product.

This Blue Larkspur brand apple crate label was used by the Heller Brothers Company Inc. of Wenatchee, Washington after 1928. The lithographed label was produced by Crocker-Union of Seattle, Washington. The blue label features an image of the stallion Blue Larkspur wreathed in flowers on the left of the label. Blue Larkspur was a race horse who competed from 1928-1930, and was named the American Horse of the Year in 1929.